Assessing community resilience, housing recovery and impact of mitigation strategies at the urban scale: a case study after the 2012 Northern Italy Earthquake

In this paper, the reconstruction process of a town affected by the 2012 Northern Italy Earthquake is analysed using information published on the town journal. Relevant aspects are highlighted, and the housing recovery is compared with that of a nearby city. Then, a what-if scenario is considered, by proposing a set of seismic mitigation strategies. These strategies are applied to a small sub-system of the city and the variation of the buildings’ vulnerability and expected damage is evaluated using a recently introduced methodology for risk assessments at the urban scale. Finally, a cost–benefit analysis is performed to assess the effectiveness of the proposed strategies. The analysis highlights a significant reduction in the expected damage and socioeconomic impact, as well as an increase in the overall performance of the urban system.

Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Using Rapid Visual Screening: Case Study of Educational Facility Buildings of Jenderal Soedirman University, Indonesia

Earthquakes are natural phenomena occurring in various parts of the globe. Severe earthquakes caused substantial loss of life and property when nearly populated districts. Although some progress has been made in the area of seismic prediction, earthquakes in time, magnitude or location can not be estimated correctly. The primary method of reducing casualties is therefore to build seismic resistant structures. Current earthquakes show that the old houses, which are not intended to withstand earthquakes, have been harmed rather than the structures intended according to seismic regulations. Many current structures in Indonesia were intended only without seismic provisions to withstand the gravity loads. There is a need to study these buildings' vulnerability in order to prevent a severe danger. A Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) technique is conducted in this study to determine a Final Level 1 Score, SL1, for Jenderal Soedirman University, Indonesia’s educational facility buildings. In nine constructions situated in Purwokerto and Purbalingga, the method was implemented. Moreover, the final SL1 score is an estimate of the collapse probability if an earthquake occurs with ground motions called the maximum considered earthquake targeted risk, MCER. These score estimates are based on restricted observed and analytical information, thus the probability of collapse is therefore an approximation.

A spatial and integrated flood risk diagnosis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify vulnerable areas for flood hazard and to analyze stakes exposed in touristic valley of Morrocan mountains. The three goals are: methodological (low-cost diagnosis without starting data), operational (to show the risk and identify avenues of prevention in Ourika) and incentive (to reproduce this on other sectors in Morocco). Design/methodology/approach The vulnerability of three areas of the Ourika valley (the most frequented) was assessed by a hydro-geomorphological study, human frequentation surveys and risk indices at the building scale. Findings Surveys carried out in the field allowed the identification of areas with high risk, the evaluation of the buildings’ vulnerability and the frequentation of the valley. Evacuation plans, allowing easy access to potential refuges in case of flood, were finally proposed. Originality/value The reproducible, inexpensive and relevant nature of the approach (integrated and spatialized) helps in decision making and facilitating dialogue for prevention.

Indoor hazards management using digital technology

Management of indoor hazards constitutes a great challenge for buildings design, construction and operating. The question is how to reduce both buildings vulnerability to indoor hazards and the impact of the latter on occupants and buildings integrity. Indoor hazards could result from different source such as fire, air pollution, water and gas leak, domestic accidents, appliances hazards, intrusion and break-out. Standards are already established for safety buildings design. However, in the operating phase, both occupants and buildings managers are subjected to serious indoor hazards, which could lead to significant human and material damages. The development of the digital technology such as Internet of Things (IoT), communication technology, indoor smart monitoring and Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers a great opportunity to improve indoor safety. This paper presents the indoor hazards and how the smart technology could help in improving the indoor hazard management.

Consolidation Methods of Romanian Historical Building with Composite Materials

Timisoara is a growing city in the western part of Romania, in a seismic area, with a lot of masonry buildings with historical and cultural value, with interesting structural elements such as vaults, arches, slabs, walls, that were affected by earthquakes, subsidence of foundations, negative human actions or lack of interventions. Masonry historical structures in Banat seismic area present particular failure mechanisms, so there is a need for new, modern, fast, easy-to-apply and reversible consolidation methods. With this type of methods is possible to assure the local and global resistance, ductility, stability and rigidity for historical buildings. This article shows the consolidation methods that were applied on the buildings Sf. Gheorghe 3 and 4, in the historical centre of Timisoara, on masonry structures with historical value. The solutions that were applied are using new, innovative fibre-reinforced composite materials, in order to repair the existing damages and prevent further ones. The consolidation solutions with these new composite materials reduce the buildings vulnerability and present the advantage of being fast and easy to be executed.

Local seismic response studies in the north-western portion of the August 24th, 2016 Mw 6.0 earthquake affected area. The case of Visso village (central Apennines)

In this work, we investigate the possible causes of the differential damaging observed in Visso village (central Apennines, about 28 km north from the August 24th, 2016 Mw 6.0 earthquake epicenter). Following insights from the available geological cartography at 1:10.000 scale, a preliminary geophysical survey has been performed in the damaged area in order to constrain geometries and extent of the subsoil lithotypes. Then, these results have been used to retrieve a Vs profile close to the most heavily damaged buildings. This latter has been used as input for a numerical analysis aimed at deriving the motion at the ground level in the study area. In particular, a linear equivalent simulation has been performed by means of EERA code and the waveform has been obtained convolving the time history recorded during the August 24th, 2016 mainshock at Spoleto Monteluco (SPM) site. Our preliminary results indicate a possible correlation of damaging to the thickness and shape of the geological units. Nevertheless, further analyses are necessary to highlight any 2D basin and / non - linear soil behaviour effects in order to compare them to the intrinsic buildings vulnerability, according to the EMS98 guidelines.

Vulnerability Reduction Procedures in Ordinary Urban Management - The Urban Building Code of Faenza

The paper describes a study carried out for historical centre of Faenza (RA), developed by the Dept. of Architecture (UniCT) within an agreement with Faenza Municipality. The study aimed at elaborating guidelines for mitigation of buildings’ vulnerability in historical urban fabric to be used in ordinary government of the city as seismic prevention intervention.